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The one thing I did this year was a complete outer canopy defoliation. I got an interesting response with 7 of the 8 trees having a vigorous response, but one smaller tree leafing out very slowly.

December 2022 update. Not the most progress from last year, but some small gains.

Here's another really fun accent plant. These are a few rabbit's foot ferns that I bought off Etsy. I found an old railroad beam that I converted into a planter. I love the way the feet wrap around the wood. It's really beautiful.

Agreed, plus they will reduce the heat gain because of the shading so a win win

This was actually really easy. I just bought two Kestrel temperature probes. They are cool little devices often marketed to people hiking. You just connect to bluetooth and then can download the data directly to your computer. It's all simple off the shelf stuff.

Last night we got temperatures into the high 20s. I placed two digital temperature probes next to each other in the afternoon and then at 5pm I moved one into the enclosure and the other stayed on the bench just next to the enclosure. Here are graphs of the temperature logs. You can see at 5pm...

We had some rain last night and I didn't like how much pooling there was on roof with the thin plastic material. So, I bought some 1" plastic foam boards from Home Depot and threw them up top to provide more support. This will also probably help to reduce the heating by blocking direct...

I really debated using a more durable material. It would cost more but would be much hardier and multi-year. I assume I am going to have to throw away the plastic at the end of the season. I considered using some modular hard plastic sheeting material that would provide structural support...

Certainly the wind cover and water control are a given. I have some temperature probes that record measurements over time so I can get some objective measurements and report them back. I was actually more worried that there would be too much ambient heat during they day since there is dead...

Thanks Judy. I've long admired your setup.

Hi All, It's fair to say that this year has been rough on my bonsai journey. Like many of you, I struggle to come up with a winter setup. In North Carolina we don't get consistently cold weather but we do get swings in the low teens followed by relatively warm weather. It's not uncommon to...

Thanks for the insights. It's definitely not trauma given the distribution, which you can't see in the pictures. I'll take a really close look for frass before I next water it.

Hi All, I have a nice little ume that has been doing very well until recently. It leafed out in spring and I already did my first cut back. All of a sudden random branches have started to die off. The leaves just suddenly shriveled up and died. They are not clustered on one side or area. In...

I've seriously considered the concrete. It feels so permanent though that I was trying to see if I could have better luck with just the grafts.

It's looking really good. My primary goal was to acclimate it to a box, which was successful. I've really been struggling with what to do with the base. I've tried a couple rounds of approach and thread grafting new roots, but have not been very successful. I'm still undecided about whether...

Very similar. A couple tridents leafed out with some black edges and curl. This includes some of my tridents in the ground which is unusual.

I keep it under the pergola so it gets sun all day but with some filtering. Some landscape hornbeams do well with full sun, but they seem to prefer some shade.

No more die back the rest of the year. I asked Ryan Neil about it and he said that sometimes you can just injure the cambial layer enough during wiring that it weakens the branch so that it cannot transport enough water when temperatures get warm. In retrospect, I did probably make more...

Those are very nice.

Addict might be a little strong =)

I frequently load up on soil components from shows or when there are sales. I've been storing them in the original bags or in 5 gallon paint containers once sifted in my shed. They take up a decent amount of space though and I was thinking of keeping them sealed in the 5 gallon containers...

Fall 2021 update. I'm really focusing on trying to chase back some of the internodes on the apices and building up ramification. This tree didn't quite as much attention this year, but slow and steady is the race.

Thanks Danny. I'll brose the forum and send you a message later today or tomorrow.

Jerry has had some health issues and I've been waiting ten months for a stand. I don't want to pressure him. I know Sean specializes in more traditional work but I will reach out. I wasn't aware of Danny's work, but I will check it out. Thanks!

Someone to create one.